BREAKING: Miami Heat TRADE Haywood Highsmith… for WHAT?? | Asset Mismanagement Continues
Oh no, not the locksmith, not Haywood Highmith or shameless highmith as my guy Royal calls him on the basement. Man, this is a sad one as the Miami Heat have officially traded Haywood Heismith out of nowhere. Broke my heart in the middle of the day. I was stunned. I was sitting in my living room actually working on the video that I was going to post today, which is a win loss predicting every game of the regular season. Now that the schedule dropped yesterday, I I was going to post that video within an hour or two. Next thing I know, I look down at my phone and I see a Bleacher Report notification from Shams. And then I open up Twitter and he says, “The Miami Heat have officially traded Hayward Highmith and a 2032 second round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for a heavily protected 2026 second round pick.” Now, of course, I’m sad. I like Highmith, which you know, two or three years ago, I would have been stunned to hear myself ever say those words because there was a point in time where seeing Highmith on the court was infuriating to me because I didn’t think he was an NBA player. He couldn’t shoot. He could he his dribbling was worse than me. And that says a lot because I cannot dribble for for anything. I can’t dribble for crap. But anytime he touched the ball, he was a walk-in turnover. and they always said, “Oh, he’s good defensively. He’s got a good wingspan.” Every time I looked at Heywood, he was getting scored on. I never heard the phrase good defense, better offense more than when Haywood Highmith was guarding someone. And you know, that was two two three years ago at this point where I felt this way about him. I didn’t think he was an NBA player. But as of last season, I was a big fan. I was a I was officially converted into a Haywood Highmith believer because his growth on the court was truly phenomenal. You can tell he was a guy that was busting his ass in the gym. And he he went from a guy who couldn’t dribble at all to a guy who had a nice little spin move to get into the lane. He was a very reliable three-point shooter, you know, was close to 40% in the corners these last couple of seasons. And he turned himself into a hell of an NBA player. And then he went from a guy that I I thought was overrated defensively to a guy I was calling the Tatum Stopper. So I I really did like Hayward Highmith and I thought he could have had a nice role on this Heat team, but no, they decide to shed his contract for purely salary cap purposes. I do want to preface the rest of this video by stating if this is the Heat’s only move, I do not like it. Actually, I I hate it. and we’ll get into why, but I do want to keep in mind that maybe they have another move up their sleeve. We’ll have to see what follows in in the coming weeks. We’re still about a month and a half away from training camp, so we will see. But if this is the only move the Heat do for the rest of the summer, then the reason that I hate it is because it is another example of the Heat losing their own assets to shed salary or to get off of a contract. And then they always wonder why when a star asks for a trade, they don’t have enough assets to get the star. And it’s because of horrible asset management moves just like this. And to elaborate, maybe you’re confused, maybe you’re saying, “Hey, the Heat attached a second round pick to Hayward Highmith, but they’re also getting one back from the Nets.” Well, Shams revealed just a couple of minutes ago that that pick from the Brooklyn Nets is protected from pick 31 to 55. Mind you, the second round is only picks 31- 60. So, the only way the Miami Heat actually get this second round pick next year is if the Nets happen to pick 56, 57, 58, 59, or 60. And considering the Nets are probably going to be one of the worst teams in the league next year, they will pick towards the top of the second round, meaning the Heats will never ever see this pick. And as of right now, the Miami Heat actually only have one second round pick available, one, which is in 2027. That is insane to think about for a team that has nothing to show for it. And a lot of people might say, “Oh, second round picks are no big deals.” But so many times we see second round picks be the assets that can push a trade over the top. How many times do you see a star go for a few first round picks and then five second round picks? That’s the type of assets that if you’re in a bidding war against a team for Gianniskumbo or another guy that becomes available, those second round picks can give you the edge. Or if you are a competitive team next year, the year after that, then you can get a very reliable role player for three or four second round picks. We’ve seen that happen before, too. But now you’re Miami and you have no second round picks. You got one, but not nothing to show for it. Think about it. You lost a first round pick to get off of Dwayne Deadman’s contract. And they signed Dwayne Deadman to a deal a couple years back that was several million dollars over the minimum when he was barely a minimum player at the time. He probably wasn’t even an NBA player. I could have lived if it was a minimum. No, he was getting paid like six or seven million. It might even been more than that. And he said, “Oh, he’ll be a tradable contract.” Guess what? He wasn’t. You attached a second round pick to get off of him. Vicola Adipo, our guy. We love Depot. I’m I’m hoping he makes an NBA comeback. I’d love to see him in Miami, but obviously he got hurt. And then you ended up attaching two second round picks to Vicola Depot to get off his contract when you sent him to the Thunder before they waved him. And then you wonder how the Thunder have so many assets and they got a potential dynasty on their hands. It’s because they made moves like that to when they were a bad team to bring in bad contracts with picks and now that allows them to be the scariest team in the NBA because not only did they bottom out and hit on their draft picks with with JDub and Chat, but they also traded their stars when they knew they weren’t going to keep them and got nice young talent like Shay Gildish Alexander. And then while they were bad for the first few years of Sha’s tenure with OKC, they kept taking on these picks in addition to Olad Depot. Remember they took on Quesia Paula from Miami for additional draft capital. They made those right moves to have all the assets. So right now they’re an unstoppable force. But Miami keeps wanting to play the mediocre game. They keep wanting to hang around the middle and then they get cheap and then they want to attach second round picks to get off these guys. Like Haywood Heismith, you just signed him a year ago. And a year later, you’re attaching a second round pick to get off of him. Are you kidding me? Why sign him in the first place? Did you think he was going to be a a a piece to help you win the championship last season? Oh my god, that’s just absolutely horrible asset management. And then you look at a team like the Brooklyn Nets, they have tons of cap space and they’re doing the right thing. They bottomed out. They’re going to try to hit on their draft picks. They had four first round picks last year. took three point guards, four if you count Danny Wolf, point guard in a center’s body. One of them is bound to hit. And while those those guys take a few years to kind of get their NBA careers going, the Nets are going to keep taking on these bad contracts like a Michael Porter Jr. and a first round pick, like Haywood Highmith, who’s not a bad contract, but they’re taking on his salary and a second round pick, so they can continue to build their asset pool and kind of go the same route that OKC did, you know, with with their current build. Now, the the Nets don’t have a Shay Gilis Alexander because I guess they they traded KD was their star. I guess the KD was the Nets version of uh of the clip or of the OKC Thunder having Paul George, I guess. But obviously, they ended up trading him for Bridges, but then they flipped him for all those first round picks. So, the Nets are kind of doing the rebuild the right way. I I just that’s how I think you build a team in today’s NBA. You bottom out, you get the high draft picks. And then while you’re working to get good, you take on these bad contracts with all of these picks, and Miami is just doing it ass backwards, losing another asset for Haywood Highmith, who you just signed last year. And the thing is, Haywood’s a good player, a great 3 and D player, someone that any team could use, only making $5.6 million. He’s expiring, so he’s not a long-term commitment. And Miami had to attach a pick to get off of him. Are you kidding me? You couldn’t wait until the end of the season to maybe dump him or go to the trade deadline, see which team thinks a highmith can maybe put them over the top or or need some more shooting or or three and D play, anything like that. You you couldn’t wait because yes, I understand, oh, the Miami Heat wanted to get under the luxury tax, which they were able to do with this trade. We’ll get into that a little bit more later, but you have until the end of the season to get under the luxury tax. You could have seen what opened up between now and then. Maybe ifo plays well and you can ship him to a contender at the deadline to shed his salary. Maybe Terry Rosier the the feds, you know, cancel his contract. I don’t know. There’s a million different possibilities of things that could happen between now and the trade deadline where maybe you could have got under the luxury tax without having to attach a second round pick. To do it right now is just absolutely asinine. It is. Really is. And then you watch the Nets are going to end up flipping Highmith at the deadline and get even more assets for him. Just playing for Miami for a damn fool. Uh a guy who’s not a fool, Haywood Highmith. He he got a little bit of a bag from Norman Powell to change his jersey number from 24 to 8 and now he’s not even here anymore. So I wonder if Norman is still going to pay up. That’s actually kind of a funny thing to think about. Uh but yeah, I mean I don’t know. I I’m can’t say I’m happy for Highmith. I’m assuming he liked it here. otherwise he wouldn’t have resigned. But, you know, I hope it hope it works out for him because I am a Highmith fan at the end of the day. Uh, what else do we got here? Of course, he’s recovering from his knee surgery. So, we do want to wish him well. He was a guy that’s might have been ready for the start of the season. Still a little bit iffy, but from Miami’s perspective, like it don’t matter. You know, he was going to be ready at some point early in the year, and I think he was going to be a big rotation piece for Miami. Uh, but anyways, the Heat, they do get under the luxury tax. Yasi Goslin put a pretty good breakdown of where the Miami Heat stand now from a salary cap standpoints. Basically, we have a $5.6 million trade exception, which the Heat are likely not going to use. And the most important thing here that I want to point out with all these numbers is the Heat went from slightly over the luxury tax to now $4 million under the luxury tax, which now means that they can sign another minimum player without going over the luxury tax. Of course, you know, before this deal, the Heat the Heat had one roster spot open, but they really likely weren’t going to fill it because they were over the luxury tax. Well, now that that the Heat uh shedded their salary, we are able to sign one more player. Uh and also the Heat have to sign one more player. I believe now you do have to have 14 players under a standard contract. So, the Heat will make a move to add someone probably before the start of the season. I don’t know exactly who yet. Of course, this does allow the Mami Heat to maybe revisit Drew Smith, who for a while we thought he was eligible for another two-way because he has less than four years NBA experience. However, he’s already signed three separate two-ways with the Miami Heats and you’re not actually allowed to sign a fourth. So, if they were going to bring Drew Smith back, it had to be on a standard. Now, they are able to do so. Although he’s a completely different position than Haywood Highmith, but brings some of the same things defensively in terms of perimeter defense, point of attack defense. I think the Heat needs some more of that, especially with Haywood gone now. Obviously, DaVon Mitchell and Bam would do that, but you need more Drew Smith. Drew Smith could do that if he was healthy. Or maybe he does allow the Heat to get a guy like Kai Jones, someone they worked out last week, someone that I’ve talked about in the past. I would like to see him on the Heat roster. I think there’s a high upside there. point is the Heat have some minimum contract space to work with. It it just sucks you had to attach a second round pick to to get off Highmith. I I don’t agree with that whatsoever. You know, in terms of actually filling his role in the rotation with guys that are still here, we knew Pella Larson was going to be a big part of the rotation. That hasn’t changed. You know, if anything, he’ll get some more run and maybe Kashad Johnson now because the Heat were so eager to give Kashad Johnson a standard contract when he could have been on a two-way. And truthfully, I don’t think he’s gonna be in the rotation, at least not before this highmith trade. And part of that is because I didn’t I don’t think he’s ready yet. Y’all know I love Kashad. I think he’ll be a great player, a great rotation player in this league one day. But based off the summer league, he’s not ready yet. Had some great games, had some bad ones. So, I don’t think he’s ready yet. Now, they don’t really have a choice. He’s on a standard contract. You kind of need to play him. Otherwise, they should have just gave him a two-way deal. But that’s basically where things stand as far as the Haywood Highmith trade. Uh sad to see my guy go, but I do wish him the absolute best. Anyways, let me know what y’all think down in the comment section below. Uh maybe drop some of your favorite Haywood Highmith memories. I remember him playing well in the 2023 finals. Remember him locking down Tatum in the playoffs. So, drop some of your Haywood uh memories down below. Also, I did not mention, make sure to fill out my Family Feud question form linked in the description below. I made a Google form asking random Miami Heat family feud style questions because I do plan on doing a little bit of a battle between your favorite Heat content creators uh in the coming weeks. So, if you want to be a part of that, drop your answers in that Google form below. I do greatly appreciate it. Uh shout out to FanDuel. I didn’t mention them yet. I might have to do a edit cutting earlier in this video cuz uh got to got to show some love to the sponsor. Uh but yeah, subscribe uh like the video, all that good stuff. See you on the next one. Peace out, everyone. city trying to get that dead face. Do it on my own. I don’t need no dead weight. Had a killer off. Yeah, I need a head space. You know this homegrown don’t offend me. Huh.
Discussing the Miami Heat trading Haywood Highsmith to the Brooklyn Nets. Could the Heat sign Dru Smith or Kai Jones next? NBA and Miami Heat News featuring Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, Terry Rozier, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Duncan Robinson, Kevin Love, Haywood Highsmith, Pelle Larsson, Keshad Johnson, Erik Spoelstra and more. Subscribe for more Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins, NBA and NFL news.
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43 Comments
Who are some available minimumFree Agents you'd like to see the Miami Heat sign?
next move: sign some undrafted big, done!
Don't bring Smith back.
All the Heat ever care about is saving money. Now we sign a g leaguer for the minimum 🙄
I think we gonna sign kai jones
Im actually pissed the locksmith did all the dirty work for us always left it all out on the court. And we can’t even buy his jerseys on sale they just took him off the store. Super disappointed by the FO
I’m thinking that Simone and the way he plays defense and offense made it easier to trade HH, and it’s probably easier to move him bc his contract is less 🤷🏽♂️
what the hell move is this????? friggin dumbass move
They more than likely made this move to sign Dru Smith to a standard deal and sign a back up big while staying under the cap
Shame Shame Shame
Damn bro that was fast asf 😂😂😂😂😂
Classy move by Miami. Send off Highsmith to a new team where he can get minutes for a new contract. This opens the door for Burks return. Miami had this all planned out. Once they traded Butler away
Wouldn’t trade Haywood for KD but traded him for a 2nd?
1) salary cap
2)Luxury tax
3) MORE RUN Pella
4) jacquez run
5) playing him wrong in D
6) Free up roster spot
7) yes they better bring in another good guy
IT hurts the. ❤
BUT we need it 🏆
Rozier MUST GO next
Asset mismanagement. This FO needs to go, we need someone new in there.
Need to tank for Peterson
Terry should have been traded
I can hear ROYAL celebrating from here !
Haywood Highsmith ($5.6 million) – GONE
—
Current Roster (i hope the following is correct):
Bam Adebayo ($37.1 million)
Tyler Herro ($31 million)
Andrew Wiggins ($28.2 million)
Terry Rozier ($24.9 million guaranteed of $26.6 million)
Norman Powell ($20.483 million)
Davion Mitchell (estimated $11.5 million)
Simone Fontecchio ($8.3 million)
Nikola Jovic ($4.4 million)
Kel’el Ware ($4.4 million)
Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($3.9 million)
Kasparas Jakucionis ($3.7 million)
Pelle Larsson ($978,000 guaranteed of $2 million)
Keshad Johnson ($2 million)
Haywood is overrated on defense. You are overacting.
Hurts the soul, I love Haywood locksmith 😔💔
😂😂😂they should have traded Terry Rozier
I think i'm ok with this move,,, so we have now 2 tradable 2nd round picks,, and a 4m dollar cap space under the luxury tax so and a 2 rosters spot more so we can sign another role player to replace Highsmith
Bro, you do not just dump Highsmith like this if you don’t have another move lined up. There better be another move Pat.
He suck!!!!
I'm not the biggest fan of highsmith. Don't hate him but not a fan BUTA YOUR TELLING ME WE GAVE UP A PICK AND AND GAVE UP A PLAYER FOR NOTHING BUT TRADING ROZIER WITH TWO PICKS IS TOO MUCH TO ASK!!!! okay whatever smh this is nut.
The only way I would feel better about this trade is if they traded a second round pick to be able to sign two players. Say Kai Jones and Dru Smith. Most importantly with the intention to compete this year.
Common Anthony. Theres no way they traded away a 2nd round pick to get under the tax when they had plenty of time to do it later.
Yeah that news got me bro. Salary dump
HH got much much better this past season. Dude couldn’t make a layup or dribble worth a damn a season ago but he improved quite a bit. I hope they’re planning on doing something else because HH was a hell of a defensive player. But to get rid of him along with a 2nd rd pick for a 2nd rd pick that they probably won’t even get.
You find GEMS in the second round. We’re constantly getting rid of any draft capital and I truly don’t understand what the hell they’re doing.
The Nets are doing what OKC did and it will eventually pay off for them.
I really hope they sign Kai
It sucks to lose somebody like him from the heat I just don't want to hear anybody saying hey or wish we had had another on ball defender another Wing defender it just sucks bro this one hurt a lot of heat fans
Mannnn stop making a show. Highsmith aint even all that
All they trade for sure is under Himmy’s timeline. Heat is still a great organization in terms of players they are still getting paid and has achance to play than waive lockSmith !😮 but still do not like it.
Here comes DeRozen!!!!
No one goes for 1 2nd round pick. Yall buggin
What assets can be gotten for HighsmithB later???? CAP
More time for JJJ. Having to see the entire second half of the season with first Duncan and then Highsmith and then slomo ahead of JJJ was pathetic. Gonna love hearing Basement begrudgingly gloat JJJ next season. 🔥
This is like the most surprising trade for miami heat recently. I woke up to this sht lmao
People saying "Oh it's just 2nd round pick no big deal" meanwhile. you have 30 drafts on first round and only 2 of them are exceptional, 5 great players, 2 with great potential and the rest are just bums or go straight to g-league lol
fck this org man. I love the players, I love the coaching staff, but the guys running the org are just garbage
Meanwhile, still holding onto Dru Smith…🙄🙄